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Posted onEVANNEX on July 30, 2020byIqtidar Ali

Afew years back, Volkswagen wasrumoredto be in the running to acquire Tesla.It never happened. ButTesla CEO Elon Musk and VW CEO Herbert Deiss seemedquite friendlywhen Tesla won an AUTO BILD award in Germany last year. Around that time, Musktweeted, "Herbert Diess is doing more than any big carmaker to go electric. The good of the world should come first. For what its worth, he has my support."

Then, earlier this year, Deisssaid, "We think that Tesla plays a very important role in the transition because they are paving the way...They showed that electric cars are working, that a fully electric car is the right solution. So, we appreciate that."Is this a budding bromance between Deiss and Musk? Or are they fickle frenemies. Other comments this monthseem to suggest something more. More on that in a moment.

But first, let's looks at one way VW is indirectlyhelpingTesla. In basketball, there's something called a no-look pass. The whole purpose of this maneuver is that it goes unnoticed on the court. Something happened in Florida that went largely unnoticed. So let's take a look.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently announced that the state will be getting 74 new DC fast chargers for electric vehicles. Heheld a press conference to announce the good news for EV drivers all across Florida. Sure, this is good news, butwhat does this have to do with Tesla or VW?

Well, it turns out Florida's EV charging infrastructure expansion plan will require an $8.5 million investment that's just a small part of the $166 million settlement that the state of Florida was awarded as a result ofVolkswagens violationof the Clean Air Act.

Although not officially announced by the Governor,Teslaturns out tobeakey beneficiary of this deal asmuch of the infrastructure will consist of Tesla Supercharger stations spanning across 1,200 miles on the states evacuation routes and major highways I-75, I-4, and I-95.

At the press conference, preparations were in full swing for the announcement whilea bunch of Teslavehicles appearedsurroundingthe Supercharger stalls, as reported on Twitter by Asher Wildman.

Later on, it was confirmed byNews 6 Orlandothat Tesla officials also joined the press conference and Superchargersare slated get a significant share as part of this EV charging infrastructure expansion plan. DeSantis remarked, "You know, you go in, you plug, you go to like a gas station or something inside the service store, get a drink, you come out, and the thing can be charged in a relatively short amount of time.

"In terms of the Volkswagen settlement limit, the amount of funds that we can use on the EV infrastructure [amount] to 15% of the total $166 million, so we can use about $25 million, that means that this initial $8.5 million investment is one chunk but we do have more money that we can use for EV infrastructure and were really looking to do that," said DeSantis.

In what appears to be a surprisingturn of events, Volkswagen is helping Tesla (and electric vehicles in general)as the company moves in the right direction post-Dieselgate. Whilethat scandal plagued VW for years,it's encouraging to see the German automaker moveto convert their fleet from gas (and diesel) powered cars to EVs. VW has also been activelyadvertising to support a transition to EVs. And funding EV charging infrastructure iscertainly a noble step in the right direction.

Above: Florida Governor DeSantisannouncingnew EV charging infrastructure at a recent press conference (YouTube:ABC Action News)

According toAutomotive News, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Deiss just voiced his support (once again) for Tesla's impressive success in the EV space. Elon Musk delivers results that many have deemed impossible, Diessnoted on LinkedIn.The VW CEO added that Musks resultsprove that in five to ten years the worlds most valuable company will be a mobility company that can be called Tesla, Apple or Volkswagen.

Fast forward to this week. In response to an article citing VW's recent efforts with electrification, Elon Musktweeted, "Tesla is open to licensing software and supplying powertrains & batteries. Were just trying to accelerate sustainable energy, not crush competitors!"

Could these two automotive innovators be aligning forces in the future? Only time will tell.

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Written by:Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of this article was originallypublished onTesla Oracle.

Read more:

What Are The Chances Tesla And Volkswagen Join Forces? - InsideEVs